May 14, 2081

I sorted through the clothes I had to wash. I had just come back from Wunmi's house after eating the delicious oil rice that her mother had cooked. She had stayed back to help her mother while I returned home to complete my chores. I stopped when I came across a white faded shirt I had plans of throwing away. Though as I looked at it, my mind was not on throwing it away but on something else I had had in mind for a while.

"I'll be back!" I yelled to Tobi as I dashed out of the house with the shirt in my hand.

He grumbled something in response, probably 'I don't care' but I was already out of the door then. I briefly wondered why he was home. He was almost always out of the house. After Mrs. Abimbola had brought me to the village and I had come out of my withdrawn state, I noticed Tobi's hostility towards me. He enjoyed making me uncomfortable. At first it had annoyed me to no length and we were always fighting but I had gotten used to it and now we related in a way that someone would think we were throwing playful banter at each other. Tobi was harsh at times but I tried to not let his words get to me.

Mrs. Abimbola was also not home, she had gone to teach the children in the village. It was something she volunteered to do. She taught some of the younger children in the village, at least three times a week. Although some people wondered what the use was since the children could get infected anytime after their sixteenth birthday, Mrs. Abimbola always said, 'Knowledge is never wasted.'

I made my way to my secret spot, where I had gone to mourn my parents two days ago. I had been thinking of sending an SOS message to Angela Cassey. I didn't know whether that was wise or foolish but it was something I had been thinking of. There was a possibility that it might attract the wrong attention. I shivered as my mind went to RICCO CORP. I sincerely hoped it wouldn't attract them. I had been calling Angela Cassey for several months with no response and I usually wondered how she'll find us if she eventually responded and that was when the idea of mounting a white flag, in this case shirt, came about. My feet crushed the inky leaves on the floor as I went into the forest. I was going to my favourite spot. The tree, apart from being good for sitting, looked easy to climb unlike the rest of them. I realised just how wrong I was several minutes later.

Sweat dripped from my forehead and trailed into my blouse as I struggled to hold on to the truck of the tree. After falling several times, I had managed to get to 2/3 of the tree. The ink around the tree trunk made it quite slippery. I was glad I had learnt a few tree climbing techniques since I came to the village. Otherwise, I doubted I would have been able to climb the tree. I reached for the nearest branch and grabbed on quickly as I felt myself slipping. Luckily, I had tied the shirt to my waist or else I didn't think I could climb the tree while holding it. I tried to focus on just climbing instead of looking at how far I had gone. Earlier, I had looked up expecting to be at the top of the tree but I was disappointed to find myself still a bit far off. Unfortunately, that little act of looking up caused me to slip down a little.

After about an hour or two of climbing, I finally got close enough to the top. I decided it was enough for me to mount the shirt... I mean, flag. I untied the shirt from my waist and tied it on one of the branches at the top, where it looked like it could be seen. After tying it, I looked around. From my spot on the tree, I could see part of the village. I watched people walk around. Even from this far, I could sense the lack of life in their walk. People just lived each day, waiting for the time they'll die or hoping, though only a few hoped, that a miracle will happen. I could already feel my fingers slipping so I took one last look at the white shirt as it hung on the branch before I let myself slide down the trunk of the tree.

Minutes later, my feet touched the ground and I examined the shirt I was wearing. It was badly stained with ink and there were a few scratches caused by the trunk. I also had a few cuts on my arms. After making sure it wasn't anything serious, I made my way back to the village.

As I got closer to my hut, I heard Wunmi's voice. She sounded angry.

"I'm not interested."

I frowned, wondering who had gotten her angry. As I turned around the corner I saw her standing in front of my hut with Sam, one of Tobi's friends. Sam was around our age, tall and cute but he easily got on people's nerves whenever he opened his mouth. He seemed to have a thing for always annoying Wunmi. I quickened my steps, ready to stop an impending war.

Sam snorted. "You know, tomorrow you might wake up with ink coming out from your nose and your eyes and your ears," he said, using his hands to demonstrate. "So it's better you enjoy your life now."

"See me oh." Wunmi slapped her hands together several times as if wiping dust from her hands but it was actually to show her surprise. "Is it by force? I said no."

"Stop acting like one good girl, jor."

She raised a brow and then put her hands on her waist. "Yes, the world is coming to an end. We might all turn to ink and die or die and turn to ink, whichever, but that doesn't mean my priority is 'enjoying' myself with you or any other guy? What is it going to add to my life? If I'm really looking for something to do I'll travel to the city and visit Aso rock or Olumo rock or every other place I've wanted to visit. You talk as if if I don't 'enjoy' my life, something worse than dying and turning into ink will happen to me. So if I die without being with a guy, eheh? What's your own? Who e epp?"

From Wunmi's short speech, I could guess what this was about. I was sure Sam was trying to get her to go 'someplace quiet' with him. After the inky rain, people started giving in to their desires. At the beginning, the whole world had gone into chaos. People were killed, raped, attacked or had their properties stolen. Thankfully, the crimes had reduced. I guess it was because some people had decided trying to find a way to stay alive was better. In the village, the teens indulged themselves in things they had always been curious of. Just a year ago, a teenager in the village had died. He had taken drugs, I always wondered where he got it from, and was so high that he decided to snort a heavy dose of ink into his system. He was infected in minutes. Thankfully, he was discovered and transported out of the village before he turned to ink.

Sam looked dumbfounded after Wunmi's short speech, but then a few moments later he found his voice and placed a cocky smile on his face. "You don't know what you're missing."

I almost face palmed. He just didn't know when to stop talking. From the anger exuding off Wunmi, I was sure he had already said some annoying things to her even before I got there. She was just about to pounce on him when Tobi came out of the hut. Sam quickly moved behind Tobi while I held Wunmi back from attacking him.

"What's going on here?" Tobi asked, looking at each of us and then he stopped at me. "What did you do?"

I scowled at him. "I didn't do anything."

He never ceased to remind me that my parents contributed to the ink pollution by using RICCO CORP machines. That coupled with his anger at how I had treated his mum when she was a maid in my parents' house, and how I treated him too, made him hate me. I didn't blame him. I could remember clearly on one of the days when I had humiliated him in front of my friends. I was really a bratty child when I was growing up, sweet when I wanted to be but mostly bratty. My parents and their friends didn't believe it whenever the servants reported me for something because they all thought I was a sweet little girl. I shook my head as I thought of my attitude. I was really glad that Mrs. Abimbola had been persistent with me. Even when she had rescued me and I became withdrawn, it was her constant love that drew me out.

"Ask this your yeye friend here," Wunmi said, drawing me out of my thoughts.

"Just take him away," I said.

Tobi looked at Sam amused. He turned back and pulled him along with him. "What's wrong with you? What did you do?" he asked, slapping the back of his head.

"Hey man, it's not my fault. You know how Wunmi overreacts."

Wunmi tried to pull out of my arms, scowling at him. He glanced at her and quickened his steps.

Tobi chuckled. "And I know you, you over act."

I chuckled as I watched them walk away. I still held Wunmi, just incase she decided to go after him again.

GLOSSARY
Yeye: Useless, nonesense
Aso rock: The presidential house in Nigeria.
Olumo rock: A tourist attraction in Nigeria.
Who e epp: Pidgin for who did/does it help.

©Jesutofunmi Fekoya

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